There Are Going to Be Some Awkward Run-Ins at the Water Cooler in Trump's White House

"Gentlemen, please excuse us now if you would," said my British boss. This was at NATO headquarters in Afghanistan, so it was very international. We had officers from a number of different nationalities on our team: British, French, Canadian, Dutch, Turkish, German, Italian, Polish, Greek, Australian, and me, the sole American.

What the boss meant in that instance was that everyone had to leave the room except myself, the Canadian, and the Australian. That was because the "ABCA" countries (American, British, Canadian, Australian) were about to discuss issues that touched on intelligence that could not be shared across the broader coalition. Everyone understood, and, so far as I know, none were offended. There are just some things that cannot be widely shared, even among allies. Even the best of allies: There were times the American officers asked all others, even the Brits, to leave the room, too.

Though there are no specific treaties that outline the "special relationship" we share within the ABCA, and there is no command structure that supports such an informal arrangement, the rules are pretty clear. Each nation, on its own, determines what they can and cannot share—even inside this extra-special quartet. Documents are clearly marked accordingly. Sharing those documents or slides beyond what you have specific permission for is quite literally a crime.

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This, apparently, is something that Lieutenant General Michael Flynn did not quite understand. Which is probably why, when I arrived in Afghanistan in January 2011, he had already been gone for two months.

The depth of hubris this demonstrates from the man likely to be the next National Security Advisor is stunning. Intelligence officers and planning officers (as I once was) are unusually careful about what they say in a room filled with officers from other countries. Even if those countries are part of the ABCA relationship, one does not just toss out classified information—particularly that marked Top Secret or beyond.

Well, unless you're Flynn, who was the J-2 (the senior intelligence officer at a "Joint" command) of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul, Afghanistan, apparently. From The Washington Post:

"It was a general intelligence briefing that included stuff that shouldn't have been on those slides," said a former senior U.S. intelligence official, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the subject. The disclosures revealed "stuff the intelligence community was doing that had a much higher level of classification."

The agency has had an extensive presence in the Afghanistan since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Beyond gathering intelligence on al-Qaeda and the Taliban, the CIA has also assembled its own paramilitary networks in the country, paying warlords for cooperation and funding armed groups known as Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams.

A second former U.S. official said Flynn failed to secure permission to reveal those secrets. "This was a question of whether or not information was put through proper channels before it was shared," the second official said.

The episode marked the second time in a year that Flynn had drawn official complaints for his handling of classified material.

Former U.S. officials said that Flynn had disclosed sensitive information to Pakistan in late 2009 or early 2010 about secret U.S. intelligence capabilities being used to monitor the Haqqani network, an insurgent group accused of repeated attacks on U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

But the real kicker in all of this, one that should make for an interesting time at the White House water cooler, is this tidbit: The investigation into Flynn's behavior was ordered in 2010 by the commander of the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida. The exact date hasn't been released, but if it took place in the first half of the year, then the CENTCOM commander who ordered the investigation was General David Petraeus—another rumored Trump appointee.

If it occurred sometime between July 2010 and Flynn's departure from Afghanistan in October, Flynn's boss in Afghanistan was Petraeus, and the commander at CENTCOM was none other than General James "Mad Dog" Mattis, the nominee for Secretary of Defense. Awkward.

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